Spring 2018

Dear GSEB Community:

A belated to the spring 2018 semester! As we move toward the end of the semester, we are pleased to announce that our total enrollment is currently around 180 students, who attend classes in the morning or afternoon. We remain the second largest Saturday German school in northern California. As we continue to grow as a community, we are always looking for great teachers to join our staff. If you know of any teachers who may be interested, please send them our way! Prior teaching experience and native speakers are preferred, but any fluent German speaker will be considered. We are also currently looking for an education director, a testing coordinator, and an office manager. Like our teachers, all are paid positions and a great opportunity for part-­time work. Job descriptions for each position will be available on our website and via GSEB’s facebook group. You can also email us directly at: president@gseb-school.org.

As a mostly volunteer-­‐run school, we would greatly appreciate your valuable input and talents. We welcome your help, whether its becoming a board member, planning events, assisting with the library, or lending a hand with online communications and operations. Our dynamic school thrives because of active members. If interested, please just let us know. We always have opportunities to match your skills! Thank you in advance.

Important Upcoming Dates:

May 5th—from 12pm to 1pm there will be a General Meeting for the entire GSEB community (teachers, students, parents, and board members) in “Pryor Hall” on the ground floor of the Altenheim across the parking lot from our school. Please feel free to attend if you have any questions or concerns. Due to the meeting, morning classes will end early at 11:45, and afternoon classes will begin late at 1:15. Childcare will be provided during the meeting in the GSEB multi-­purpose room near the entrance.

New Additions to our Teaching Staff:

Hi! My name is Frida Schaefer Bastian, and I am currently a sophomore at UC Berkeley studying Economics and Media Studies. I grew up in Berlin until I was nine, at which point my family and I moved to the Bay Area. In high school, I worked at the German American School of Palo Alto for three years as a teaching assistant. As I’ve gone to college, I’ve missed my constant connection to German culture, so I am incredibly excited to be back in the classroom working with kids, especially in German. (Frida is currently teaching the HS 5-­‐6 class.)

I’m Sandra Schlachter. I was born in Berkeley, CA, to German-­‐speaking immigrants from East Prussia and the Sudetenland. At home my parents spoke German with me and exposed me to many facets of European culture. On Saturdays, from 1964 to 1976, I was a student at GSEB, where I first learned to read and write German! Later, I attended Mills College, where I double majored in German and Mathematics. After that, I attended the University of Southern California, receiving my Ph.D. in German Literature in 1994. My dissertation was on German-­‐ and Yiddish-­‐language newspapers printed in Shanghai, China, from 1939-­‐1945.

At USC I met my husband—who hails from China—and we were married in 1985. From 1993 to 1996, my husband and I lived in Jena, Thuringia (previously East Germany), while he worked as a guest researcher in the Max-­‐Planck-­‐Gesellschaft X-­‐ray optics group at the Friedrich-­‐Schiller-­‐University. For the past 20 years I have been a consultant for medical device manufacturers engaged in clinical trials. Frequently these trials are carried out at least in part in Germany or Austria. My husband and I have a 21-­‐year-­‐old daughter who is studying computer science and machine learning in New York state. Now that we are empty nesters, we lavish our attention on our cat, Felix, who understands all of four German words: Mama, Papa, Fressen, and Raus!!! (Sandra is currently teaching the culture/literature club.)

New Additions to GSEB Board and Staff:

I’m Daria Nyberg. I am originally from Russia. I finished high school in Russia and graduated from Moscow State University, with a geography major, then I moved to the United States to study for a master’s degree in international relations with a dual major in nonproliferation and terrorism studies at Monterey Institute. My family members are diplomats, pilots, and investment bankers. We are an American-­‐Swedish-­‐Russian family. I have been to Germany a number of times. During my work in Europe, I worked in external relations for the organization Youth and Environment Europe. My daughter began at GSEB three years ago in the “Singen und Spielen” group and is now in first grade. My three-­‐year-­‐old will also possibly join the new “Pre-K” class next year.

My name is Uta (Kyala) Mueller Tsai. I work with Gudrun Finn and Daria Nyberg to head up GSEB’s Library Committee. I was born near Stuttgart and studied social pedagogy at the Ev. Fachhochschule für Sozialwesen in Freiburg. After years of traveling, I settled down in Alameda, where I live now with my husband and 2 sons (7 and 9), who are also students at GSEB. I work as an office administrator at a Montessori school and love to garden, hike, and travel in my free time. You can find me Saturday afternoons at the GSEB library and during the summer in Taiwan or Southern Germany.

I’m Thomas Weber. I was born and raised in Saarbrücken and left my hometown in 1997 to do my doctoral studies in Chemistry in Houston, TX. My professional career took me to a number of places in the US such as Chapel Hill, NC, Boston, MA, Washington, DC, Austin, TX, and most recently the Bay Area. My daughter, Melissa, was born here in the US and attends GSEB as a student not only to learn the language but also to experience some of the German culture that the school fosters with its curricular and extra-­‐curricular activities. I work as a patent practitioner for a biotech company in Emeryville. I hold a PhD in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Houston and a JD from Catholic University. While my daughter and our dog “Kirk,” who has become the school’s mascot, take up most of my free time, I like to learn new skills, mostly in the creative arts.

My name is Eliah Bures. I recently joined the GSEB board as communications director. I grew up in Kansas and began learning German in high school. I first went to Germany as a high school student on an AATG scholarship in 1996. I later earned a BA in history and German at the University of Kansas, and a PhD in modern German history at Cal.
My work deals in particular with the writer Ernst Jünger and the radical conservative tradition in German intellectual history. Over the years, I have been to Germany quite a few times for research and study. I’ve lived in Nürnberg, Bonn, Ludwigsburg, and Oldenburg at various points. I also recently taught for three years at a university in Spain. I currently live in Berkeley with my wife (Erin) and our son (Augie), who attends GSEB in the HS 1-­‐2 class.

As of Spring 2018, Dov Cohen has stepped up from his former position as registrar to become GSEB’s new president. Dov is an expat from the East Coast, with ancestors hailing from exotic Brooklyn. After washing out of a history graduate program and running away from being drafted into the Israeli Army, Dov took refuge in the sciences, finishing a doctorate in materials science at the University of Minnesota. During the day, he manages a data science team. Dov is also a long-­‐time student of the German language, but laments that his progress has not been commensurate with his years of effort. His wife, Claudia, has also served on the GSEB board in the past. Their kids, Julian (11) and Gabriel (8), are currently enrolled at the school. There have been a number of other personnel changes this semester, as well. Kit Thompson and Petra Specht stepped down from the board, and Cornelia Bleul-­‐Gohkle resigned as education director. Martina Austin will be resigning as office manager at the end of this semester. We thank them for all their hard work and dedication to GSEB! Some familiar faces are also continuing in new positions. Lars Larsen has taken on the role of vice president of the board, Steffen Brandt is now serving as treasurer, and Jennifer Schulze has moved into her new role as registrar.

The GSEB Library:

One of the best things about GSEB is our fantastic German-­‐language Bibliothek! With several thousand volumes available to check out, we have something for everyone, from board books for preschoolers to travel books and novels for adults. We also have audiobooks, Hörspiele, and videos—all in German! Here are a few things you’ll want to check out!

A little mole, who wanted to know who pooped on his head, is enraged about the injustice. Looking for the perpetrator he meets many animals. This is a funny book for everybody, especially 2-­‐5 year olds. Wolf Erlbruch is one of Germany’s most prestigious illustrators. His drawings of the little mole with glasses in his signature style make this book a perfect match of text and image.

A short story in rhymes about a day at the school for young hares, this is the classic German picture book for Easter. It is sweet, a little old fashioned, and has beautiful illustrations.

Die wilden Hühner
von Cornelia Funke

This is the first adventure of a group of four friends—Frieda, Sprotte, Trude, and Melanie—and their secret club “The Wild Chickens.” This is a perfect book for teenagers that tells a story beyond gender stereotypes and is classic Cornelia Funke: Fast moving, with funny dialogues, and a big heart for teens. This book has not been translated to English.

Das magische Baumhaus: Das Geheimnis der Mumie
von Mary Pope Osborne

In this series, siblings Philipp and Anne travel through the ages with the help of a magic tree house. Meticulously researched by author Mary Pope Osborne, and beautifully translated by Sabine Rahn, this installment about ancient Egypt gets Philipp and Anne into a pyramid where they find a mummy and help a ghost travel to the afterlife.